TOURMALINE BIRTHSTONE FOR OCTOBER.

This is a stunning rubelite showing the dark" eye".It is well polished in a pyramid  shape with a dark top. It would look stunning in a ring.

NATURAL UN HEATED

MINED IN BRAZIL 

 MOHS SCALE 7-7.5

SIZE 10X9X10 MM

  Rubellite is the name given to dark pink to red tourmalines, especially those with reasonably saturated colors and medium to dark tones. Ruby red stones with little orange or brown overtones are the most highly sought after. GIA has traditionally classified rubellite, (along with Emerald,) as a Class III gem, meaning that it is almost always included. This is less true in recent years as deposits from certain regions of Africa yield much cleaner rough. Alas, these stones, so often tinged with brown, almost never approach the ruby like color of the best of those from older Brazilian deposits. Russia, Brazil, Madagascar, Nigeria and the US are productive sites for this gem.  

 Tourmaline is a crystal silicate mineral compounded with elements such as aluminium, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium, or potassium. Tourmaline gem stones come in a wide variety of colors.Tourmaline has a variety of colors. Usually, iron-rich tourmalines are black to bluish-black to deep brown, while magnesium-rich varieties are brown to yellow, and lithium-rich tourmalines are almost any color: blue, green, red, yellow, pink etc. Rarely, it is colorless. Bi-colored and multicolored crystals are common, reflecting variations of fluid chemistry during crystallisation. Crystals may be green at one end and pink at the other, or green on the outside and pink inside: this type is called watermelon tourmaline. Some forms of tourmaline are dichroic, in that they change color when viewed from different directions.